I make - Nigella's Chocolate Fruit Cake

This dark as winter's night with glistening prunes fruitcake is my new love. I thought the cake would taste chocolaty and coffee-y but no, just a nice rich flavored proper fruit cake. The cocoa and coffee are here to enhance the depth of the cake, which is nice. The prunes are the stars here which provide a little bit chew and complement well with the rest of dried fruits. The cake is moist without being damp. A very moreish fruitcake, totally guest-worthy!

Cocoa Fruit Cake, adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe

200 g prunes, chopped
150 g other dried fruits (sour cherries, currants, raisins)
100 g soft butter
50 g dark brown muscovado sugar
110 ml runny honey
80 ml coffee liqueur (I used 50% espresso + 50% rum)
1 orange (juice and zest)

1 tbsp treacle (optional but nice)

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 large eggs (beaten)

1 tsp glycerin (optional)
125 g gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)* + 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (if your blend does not have)
50 g ground almonds

a scant 1/2 tsp salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line a loaf tin. 

Put the fruit, butter, sugar, runny honey, coffee liqueur, orange juice, treacle, zests, spice, vanilla and cocoa into a large wide saucepan and bring to the boil gently, stirring as the butter melts. Simmer for 1 minute, and then take off the heat and leave to stand for 1 hour (or longer).

After the 60 minutes are up, it will have cooled a little. Add the beaten eggs, glycerin (if using), flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula, however you like, to combine.

Pour the fruit cake mixture into the prepared cake tin. Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes, by which time the top of the cake should be firm but will have a shiny and sticky look. If you insert a cake tester into the centre of the cake it will still be a little gooey in the middle.

Put the cake on a cooling rack. It will hold its heat and take a while to cool, but once it has, unmould it from the tin and, if you don’t want to eat it immediately (and like any fruit cake it has a very long life), wrap it in baking parchment and then in foil and place in a tin.

*My gluten-free flour mix is 25% sweet rice + 25% brown rice + 30% cornmeal + 20% cornstarch